http://home.usadatanet.net/~jbplock/ISO5011/SPICER.html

Now don't slam me for posting this, read it with an open mind. This isn't opinion but a scientific study done in a lab/testing facility. Its significant enough for me to keep my stock filters.

I remember a long time ago my grandpa was talking about how people modify engines etc...he suggested that the mfgrs. spend a lot of money designing and engineering these engines and when people start to monkey around with them they are asking for trouble. Now I've never done any kind of modifications to any of my vehicles/ATV's but I do keep up on all general maintenance and I generally have very little problems with my vehicles.

 

Your link dosen't work. At least for me it dosen't.

 

http://home.usadatanet.net/~jbplock/ISO5011/SPICER.htm

Try this, it should work now.

 

Honda stock OEM air filters are manufactured by UNI. They are very dense foam and rather thick, and if properly oiled are intended to prevent engine damage even under the most severe conditions, and more important under conditions of extreme neglect.

UNI aftermarket airfilters are two stage. The outer stage is low density, and the inner is higher density. These will give increased performance compared to stock, but should only be used by those who will perform diligent maintenance. This is what I run on all my bikes, but I am **** retentive about maintenance!

K&N's flow lots of air, but are absolutely useless off-road in my opinion. I do have one on my truck, but it has an oiled foam wrap on it (that I change frequently), and the truck doesn't see any severe off-road use. Even with an Outerwears, I would never trust a K&N on a quad or dirt bike.

Back when, there was a study done by a construction company. They had engines on their big equipment that had seperate air intakes for each side of the engine. They ran a stock filter on one bank of cylinders, and a K&N on the other bank of cylinders, in the same vehicle. So, both sides recived the same amount of dust, under the same conditions. Cylinders on the K&N sides were toast, way before the sides that ran the stock filters. This convinced me very early on, that K&N's were best avoided!

Being a scientist myself, I do appreciate the controlled conditions of the testing used in the cited link.

 

If you keep a K&N oiled right it is just as good as any other at filtering. i've got a K&N in all my four-wheelers along with outerwears and my dad has one in his duramax and we just keep it cleaned and oiled well and it seems to do fine.

 

Seems a little hard to dispute those findings.

 

yellow-These engines are tough, and can take a lot. We had an airfilter fall off of a 300EX once, and the kids didn't realize it and rode a half day in Ocotillo Wells dust with no filter at all. Ten years later, that machine is still going strong, and has never had a rebuild. But, ultimately even though your engine may seem fine, you will at some point have to pay the piper.

For me, when I am in the desert 50 miles away from my truck, I want to know that my machine is going to get me back home. This is a reliability (survival) issue for me.

 

Not sure why the UNI did so poorly. Did they forget to oil it or something??? I think your choice of filter oil makes a big difference. I use Maxima FAB1, which is super tacky. Hard to imagine anything getting by that.

 

definatly. thanks for the link it was very interesting to read! i would also never put a K&N in an offroad machine. My S.H.O has a K&N but its a on-road car and never sees much dirt.